You are a Girl! Be Like The Girl!!

Rupa lives with her parents in India.

Rupa missed her school today. She is very angry with her mother. The reason: Rupa was trying to reason out with her father who was not letting her go for her friend's birthday party. Frustrated, Rupa raised her voice during the conversation. Rupa's mother was listening and she at once, yelled at Rupa, \"Lower your voice, you are a girl, Be like one\".  

Rupa was furious and felt humiliated. She had anticipated support from another woman, her mother in this case.  ..................

Rupa's story is the story of millions of girls across the world. They are reminded everyday, first, for being the Girl and Second, to follow the prescribed \"girl appropriate behaviour\".

The obvious question is: Who is responsible to turn the conversation between a young girl and her parents, into an angry & ugly situation? 

Is it Rupa, who attends a formal school and wants her freedom?

Is it Rupa's mother, who is conditioned to comply by woman's submission to men?

Is it Rupa's father, who has imbibed an authoritarian role over the women of the family!

OR 

Is it the prevailing socio-cultural environment that is rigid & regressive against women!

To understand it better, I floated a few words during the Gender Sensitisation training that I was conducting in one of the reputed colleges of Engineering & Technology in India. 

The words were jumbled and one had to use her/his discretion to club them under separate categories - For Women,  For Men and For Women/Men. The results were astonishing.

The words tagged with women were Patient, Affectionate, Submissive, Beautiful, Tender, Sacrificing, Timid, Sensitive, Fragile and Emotional

The words tagged with men were Confident, Go Getter, Rational, Rebellious, Muscular, Aggressive, Decisive, Logical, Independent , Brave, Ambitious and Assertive.

And the words tagged with Men or Women or Both were Supportive, Passive, Competitive, Dominating, Intuitive, Focused, Dependent and Cooperative.

In the era of  Science & Technology, I had expected  somewhat less compartmentalized categories

Taking a cue from the above, if we relate to women as timid and tender and men as strong and masculine, then I think, it is quite futile to contest for gender equality. As they say, Address the root cause for healthy and equalitarian shoots, similarly, we need to challenge these gender stereotypical symbols to achieve the gender equalitarian world. 

Question the basic symbols of gender!

Challenge self & others!!

Make a Beginning!!!